Bomb scare on several European flights: three planes to and from Italy involved, what’s happening?

Day of tension and anguish in the Italian skies. There have already been three bomb alerts triggered this morning in the space of a few hours for flights arriving and departing at our country’s airports.

From what we understand, an Airbus A320 flying from Dublin to Rome Fiumicino was diverted to Évreux airport, in France. The French Air Force said its fighters took to the skies to intercept the airliner following a suspected bomb threat. The aircraft was then diverted and escorted to the Evreux airport.” There were approximately 150 passengers and 6 crew members on board the plane of the Irish company Air Lingus and the bomb squads are intervening on board the aircraft to make everyone safe.

Another plane was also affected by the hijacking, an Airbus A321 of the Wizz Air company which took off at 7am from Malpensa airport and was headed to Warsaw. Following the threat received during the flight he landed in Vienna. “The hijacking was arranged in accordance with the established safety protocols and procedures, putting the protection of passengers and crew first,” reads a note from the Hungarian airline. “Wizz Air is cooperating fully with the relevant authorities and is taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of all people on board. The safety and security of our passengers and crew members continues to be our top priority,” the statement concludes.

A Finnair flight departing from Helsinki to Rome Fiumicino was also escorted around 9.30am by Air Force jets, following an alleged bomb threat. As per protocol, the clean-up operations foreseen in these circumstances by the police bomb squad were activated, without impacting the operations of the airport.

What we know so far

In total there are about ten flights – including several of the Irish company Ryanair – in Europe threatened by false bomb alerts (arrived via email) – in a week. The police forces of European countries are investigating to shed light on the matter which is sowing fear and causing quite a few inconveniences.

The subject of the emails also arriving at Aeroporti di Roma indicated “threat report” in question. Now investigators are trying to understand if there is a single direction behind this barrage of alerts.